Improvement in apparatus for purifying and cooling air



A. S.- -LYMAN.

` Air Cooler and Purifier.

No. 41,309. Patented Jan. 19, 1864.

N. PETERS, Puma-Lmwgmphur, wzmngwn. nc.

, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AZEL S. LYMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING AND COOLING AIR.

' Specification forming part of Leiters Patent No.' 41,309, dated January ll), 1864.

T 0 @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that l, AZELS. LYMAN, of the city, county,an'd State of New York, have 1n- V.ented a new and Improved Apparatus for Cooling and Purifying the Airin and Venti lat-ing Rooms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descrlption of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,making a part of this specification, in which- Figures 1 and 2 are vertical sections of the apparatus at right angles to each other. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section ofthe same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The object of this invention is the production of a current of air and the purification and cooling of such air in a room without any mechanical agency and without the necessity of admitting air from without.

The apparatus consists of a box in which the air is iirst dried by passing through or over lime or other drying and disinfecting materials, and so caused to circulate upward through an ascending conduit preparatory to being cooled by cooling materials, and so caused to pass down a descending conduit from which it is delivered in a pure state.

The improvement consists in the combination of the ascending pipe, acooling-surface, and the chamber for containing the drying or disinfecting material, as hereinafter described.

This example of my invention is more especially designed for giving a constant supply of pure cool air to an invalid or other person lying on a bed or on a sofa orlounge.

A is an upright box having a horizontal partition, c, below which is the chamberB for the reception of the drying and disinfecting material, which is placed in perforated trays or boxes, a a b, arranged one above another at suitable distances apart within the said chamber. Above the partition c there are formed the descending conduit C and ascending conduit D, the latter of which leads from the chamber B to the uppermost part of the box A, and the former of which communicatesat d with the upper part of the box and at e wlth the atmosphere. In theupper part of the box there is a shelf, f. to receive an ice or water pan, g. Below this shelf there is a shelf, h, 011 which is a Waste-pan, z', to catch the overiiow from the pan g when it is 'used for ice; and below this shelf a pail or other receptacle is placed on the partition c to receive the water from the waste-pan i. Inthe ice-'pan g there is an inclined grating, g, to allow air to pass through and escape from under the ice.

j is a valve in the ascending conduit D to regulate the flow of air. k is a door to the chamber B to permit theinsertion and removal of the boxes a a b. In this door is the inletaperture Z, which leads to the bottom of the chamber B. Above the door k is a door, m, toy enable e pans g and i and pail or other receptacle to be inserted and removed.

The whole of the box,except the top ,may be of wood, but the top is made of thin sheet metal to form the cooling surface, which con.- stitutes part ofthe invention.

I propose generally to lill the boxes c a in the chamber B with lime, and the uppermost box, b, in the same chamber, with charcoal, the lime drying and to some extent disinfecting the air, and the charcoal operating as a disinfectant.

To set the apparatus in operation, the aperture Zis opened to admit fresh air to the bottom ofthe chamber B. The air in the said chamber having been dried, and thus having had its specific gravity reduced, rises through. the conduit D to the top ofthe box A, and fresh air, entering atl and passing through one after another of the perforated boxes a a b, is also dried, and so a constant upward circulation is produced. This circulation is also aided by the increase of temperature which is given to the air in drying. The warm and dry air, on reaching the top of the chamber, ows under the plate n and is cooled to some extent by contact with the said plate, and thence descends through the opening p (see Fig. l) to the ice-pan g, and, after circulating through the ice and over the water in the pan ,passes through the opening d down the conduit C, and is delivered at e in-a constant stream, cooled and purified.

The cooling to a temperature considerably lower than that of the air in the room may be effected without ice or any other cooling agent than water, as every grain of water absorbed by the dry air or evaporated converts enough of caloric from a sensible to a latent state to cool one cubic foot of air 8 Fahrenheit. This while the air, which has been first dried and I consequently warmed, flows rapidly along the other surface in a contrary direction. By this means I cool the purified air to near the tem- `perature of the water used for cooling before passing it over the ice or into direct contact with water.

Sometimes, as when using the apparatus as a refrigerator, I discharge the cold damp air from the refrigerator upward on one side of thin partitions, on the other side of which the air that has been dried and warmed is received in a contrary current, thus cooling this warm dried air to near the temperature ofthe yair in the refrigeratior before permitting it to come in contact with the ice or other moist surface.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the ascending conduit D and cooling-surface n,or its equivalent with a chamber, B, containing drying or disinfecting material, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

AZEL sToRRs LYMAN.

' fWitnessesz.

M. M. LIVINGsToN, Gno. W. REED. 

